Abstract

The project SoDa answers the needs of industry and research for information on solar radiation parameters with a satisfactory quality. The methodology is user-driven with a large involvement of users in the project. A prototype service will be developed that will integrate and efficiently exploit diverse networked information sources to supply value-added information in a selected number of environmental applications. The information sources also include application-specific user-oriented numerical models and advanced algorithms. Algorithms based on innovative techniques in data fusion, data mining, data processing, and data assimilation in numerical models have been developed and tested to supply value-added information on solar radiation. The service has been validated through users trials, and its benefits were assessed. The project SoDa focuses on several applications in environment and connected domains: air quality in cities, vegetation, coastal zones, energy-conscious building design and daylighting, and industrial use of renewable energies.

Objectives

to answer the needs for high quality customer-tailored information on solar radiation to integrate diverse sources of information presently available separately within a smart integrating network to develop and operate a prototype service, which efficiently exploits this smart network, and which will be used and gauged by selected users to increase the quality of the delivered information through improved modelling of time and space structures of the solar radiation, and improved matching to actual customer needs

to disseminate the achievements of the project, and assess the sustainability of a permanent commercial service

Consortium

A multi-disciplinary consortium has been assembled, which gathers companies and researchers with the necessary expertise in solar radiation and information and communications technologies. Customers and potential users are also represented as partners in the consortium via the involvement of commercial private vendors of solar radiation databases and of representatives of large international or local environmental research and development programs.

Important dates

March 2015: HelioClim-3 data are now available in real time, i.e. a few minutes after Meteosat image reception.

Nov. 2014: Authentication by login and password for automatic accesses available for our customers.

2013 (19 Sept.): the free period for HelioClim-3 is extended to [Feb. 2004 - 2005]

2011 (May): availability of the map service in real time access.

2010 (Feb.): duplication of the acquisition chain at Transvalor premises, in Mougins, France, to increase the reliability of acquisition of the images by compensating the acquisition failures of one site by the other. Until beginning of Jan. 2011, the synchronisation is manual, and automatic afterwards. The whole SoDa infrastructure is available on both sites to ensure a better robustness of the service (website, automatic accesses...)

2009 summer: HC2 inactive.

2009 Apr.: Transvalor is getting involved in the industrialisation of the O.I.E. outcomes in the domain of solar energy (SoDa).

2003: End of the SoDa project, and start of the SoDa Service (or "broker" or website).

1984: Transvalor S.A. is funded, first on the FORGE activities.

1878: Ecole des Mines de Paris (also named MINES ParisTech), the first of the 7 Ecoles des Mines, is founded. This is an E.P.A. (Etablissement Public à caractère administratif) dedicated to the risk in mining activities.